Balloon over Yangshuo

They are waiting on us to decide if we want to go up, I am just taking pics.

Bev and Shirley wave goodbye

Gail

Another Balloon

That is a lot of flame

Coming down, had dropped the line and gone up a little

After the flight

The End

Gail and Tim were able to take a one hour Balloon ride over the beautiful karst limestone formations of Yangshuo. While we were riding around on our bikes ,we came across this basket being taken out of the back of a truck, we had previously inquired with Ping Ping our guide about taking a hot air balloon ride. The weather was perfect,  air was clear and we were there. The company looked competent, professional,and they were all dressed in red. We decided to go upright then. A quick trip to the weeds before the flight, a kiss to the wives and we were on our way.

Awesome, beautiful, breathtaking and not as scary as I thought it might be. The basket is a little low and seemed to be made for people a little shorter than Gail and I. We tried to not rock the basket. Space was limited with our pilot and another Chinese couple that went up with us. We burned up two of the four propane tanks in the hour ride. Each tank looked to be 12 -15 gallons. I had to flip my hat around to keep from burning my neck when the burners were switched on. We traveled up almost 1000 meters high at one point, (over 3,000 feet). These are some of the pics from our trip.

Guilin / Yangshuo

Wet peddler

Show pic (click for larger view)

One of Bev's one rmb payoff

Tim and Bev enjoy a great coffee at coffee house right down the street from our hotel.

Our little electric scooter

Friday rain from under my umbrella

Carved Bone and horn trinkets

Shantin pomelo

Li River

Karst mountains

Two hour river ride

In one ethnic group girls throw these balls to boys the like

Bicycle repair shop

In front of the Tribe Bar our hotel

This past three day weekend we took a trip to Yangshuo, China. This has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We went with are very good friends from the Valley, Gail and Shirley Puryear. We flew to Guilin on Thursday night and were picked up at the airport and taken to our hotel in Yangshuo, China. They waited up to let us into our rooms at the Tribe Bar. We had rooms with balconies that faced the Li River. Friday it rained hard and was cold. After meeting our wonderful guide and having breakfast everyone but Tim decided to tour one of the many caves created in the same way as the topography. Due to the wearing away of the very thick layer of limestone. Tim walked around town in the rain and took photographs until early afternoon. He also discovered a great little cafe that served fantastic lattes and deserts. In the afternoon we toured a village that had many examples of Chinese ethnic minority living with culture. Bev and Tim did the full body massage that evening while Gail and Shirley scouted out great evening establishments serving two for one refreshment until 11:00 pm!

On Saturday we rented electric motor bikes and did a all day ride around the countryside. While out we came upon a team setting up a hot air balloon. After much discussion Gail and Tim decided to take a one hour ride. It was awesome, some pics are on the next blog post. That evening we went to the world famous Liu Sanjie Impressions lightshow. This is a spectacular  must see performance that uses over 600 performers many from the local Zhuang minority group with much of the acting singing and dancing taking place on the Li River.

Sunday morning we toured a open market that was 25 k. from our town. It was huge and only happens twice a month. Bev was handing out money while Ping Ping asked permission for Tim to take pictures. This was a lot of fun. We also toured a very old village before going back to town for our trip back to the airport in Guilin and Shenzhen.

Visit this site for more information

Yangshuo China Info

And this for info on the Light Show.

Liu Sanjie

Tim

Yearbook Staff

Sumana S., Wendy X., Valeria W., Ji Eun R., Ga Hye P., Tim W.

These are the wonderful girls that I am working with to create a yearbook.

Local Chinese Restaurant

Just a pic of one restaurant up the block from the new secondary school. I pass by this daily. It is one of at least four similar restaurants in that block. They all look about the same and every block has 3 to 5 of them. The Chinese characters (in red) of this one say they sell Rice, Dumplings, Noodles, (no kidding, that is a surprise), they make most items with lots of cheap hand labor. Many people grab a chair and sit on the sidewalk to eat.

Singing Valentines

Laura, Rachel, Annie, Merlin, and John on Sax

Here is a pic of some of the students that did singing Valentines last Thursday and Friday at the Sec. School.

PD14

Tim Presents at the PD 14 Day on Computer Technology

All staff members attend the PD14 day

Saturday Feb. 14 th was a half day professional development day for our school. All teachers attended professional workshops that were designed, organized, created, and led by a team of teachers on a committee which I chaired. Lots of work to put that together in China. Every step is much more complex than it would be in the states. Overall it was a well received day and if the evaluation sheets are any indication of direction, we will probably have more of the same very soon. Here are some pics from the day and this a link to some of the presentations that were given that day.

Lantern Festival

February 9th, the 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival and is marked with the first full moon after the Chinese New Year. This is the next day of celebration in China. It kind of signifies an end to the Chinese New Year Spring Festival. The date changes every year. The day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China. Children carry around small lanterns on a stick that are about the size of a oatmeal box. There are many fireworks and you must eat these small round yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) that are very, very sweet.

Bev and I went down to the Seaworld Plaza, one block from home, to have a coffee at Starbucks and people watch. Here are a few photos that I took from 8:00 to 9:00 P.M. The fireworks went off all night long but this does mark an end to the guaranteed all night long fireworks we have had for weeks now. The fireworks are to keep the bad spirits away for the coming year.

Lunar New Year Celebrations

We did spend time in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year.

These are some shots of what we experienced. We spent three hours waiting in our little sidewalk spot to see the parade but were somewhat disappointed by a good but not spectacular parade. It was very dark, (nightime) and that made it difficult to see and photograph much, but most floats were lit-up.

It is the year of the Ox and in know to be a bad year as far as economic terms are known. The Hong Kong mayor shook a fortune telling stick out of a can of about 100 sticks and it was to predict the future for the year. It was the worst stick in the entire can.